UFC Will Hold First Event in China in 2012

The UFC has long coveted landing a show in China and it looks like they will achieve it in 2012.

UFC President Dana White announced recently that the promotion is close to sealing a deal with the $2.4 billion dollar hotel, the Venetian Macau, which is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Sands corporation, who also handle the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas.

The UFC has looked to expand further and further into Asia, and over the last couple of years more of their plans have come to fruition.

Now it appears landing in China is only a few months away.

“We’re going to do a fight in China. So imagine our first fight in China, we’re talking about doing it in conjunction with the Venetian out there. Imagine the first fight in China, it’s going to be huge,” said White.

“Soon, real soon. It will happen this year.”

The UFC officially opened offices in Asia in August 2010 when the hired former NBA executive Mark Fischer to spearhead the efforts overseas.

Fischer has worked in and around Asia for several years, and helped lead the branding and expansion of the NBA into China.

Now after a successful return to Japan earlier this year, the UFC will look to conquer China as their next major event in Asia.

The UFC has also teased about doing a new Ultimate Fighter in Asia as well, but they’ve yet to release concrete details about when or where that might happen.

The full 2012 schedule for the UFC has not been determined yet either according to White, which is a rarity so says the UFC’s President, but they have blueprints in place to take the promotion to China before the year is out.

This is awesome. There’s gotta be some top level guys in China at least in the making. Would be nice to see some more diversity in fighting styles.

johnnybooker

Exactl bro! Have always wondered what the MMA world was missing from having 1/6th of the population basicall hidden from our view. I’ve heard some other group has just bought exclusive rights to a MMA league in China…but this story would seem to contradict that. In a nation that runs the gambit from Jet Li to Yao Ming, I’d imagine there is some incredible talent there waiting to be found. And economic adversit has always spawned desperate, violent men willing to do whatever it takes to earn a living, and China has some of the poorest people on earth, despite the strong economy it has with its severely devalued currency…but I digress.